Horizontal axis washing machines typically include a cabinet or housing within which is supported an outer wash tub into which liquid and cleaning fluids are introduced during a wash cycle. An inner tub or basket for retaining items to be laundered is rotatably mounted within the outer tub with front opening portions of the inner and outer tubs being arranged in concentric spaced relation to each other.
Due to the gap between the frontal portions of the inner and outer tubs of such horizontal clothes washing machines, foreign objects, including bobby pins, coins, large pieces of lint, and the like, can fall or migrate between the inner basket and the outer tub and make their way to the drain pump of the washing machine, clogging it and making it inoperable. This can be costly to the machine owner, requiring frequent cleaning and pump replacement. In addition, manufacturer warranty costs for replacement pumps is very high.
One approach for preventing objects from entering the gap is to mount a seal on the outer tub that covers the gap and rides in sliding contact with the relatively rotatable inner tub. Such contact type sealing arrangements have the propensity to wear, potentially losing their effectiveness and creating rough or jagged edges that can damage clothes within the rapidly rotating basket when operated at speeds up to 1000 rpm, as well create irritating noises. Such sealing arrangements also are relatively costly.
Another approach for preventing the entry of foreign objects into the gap between the inner and outer tubs of horizontal axis washing machines is to mount an annular guard on the front of the outer tub partially closing the gap. Such guards have an inner annular opening smaller than the diameter of the front opening of the outer tub so as to reduce the size of the gap between the wash tubs. While it is desirable that the annular guard provide as small as annular gap as possible about the inner rotating basket, a problem with such arrangements is that at high rotational speeds of the basket vibrations can occur, particularly with out of balance laundry loads, that cause the basket to engage and damage the guard, and in turn clothes within the rotating drum. Moreover, while such an annular guard reduces the size of the gap, the gap nevertheless is noticeable by a user during loading and unloading of laundry items and detracts from the appearance of the washing machine.